Sites I've Worked

Life is Short

We live in an amazing place-- Planet Earth. No one knows if we'll be back again, or how long we'll be here. One thing that's certain: it won't be long.

I first encountered what people have come to call a "bucket list" in a college class in the 1990s. A professor suggested writing down everything we want to accomplish before death. He didn't grade us on it, but the assignment has stuck in my mind ever since.

Over the years, I've revisited the idea, usually jotting down my lists on scraps of paper that end up in stuffed in my wallet or the book I'm reading at the time. I don't know where they all are, but I find them at random moments.

I'm always amazed: no matter how unrealistic the items on the list looked when I wrote them down, when I look back, I discover I've accomplished most of the them. Maybe I'm good at doing what I've decided to do? Or maybe I'm blessed, or the lists are magical?! Or, maybe I need to challenge myself and write harder stuff on the list than "Go hiking on my birthday" (I'm kidding, I don't write that). Whatever the case, there is one item that always goes back on the list:

Make a new list.

It's like when you rub a magic lamp, and a genie comes out and gives you three wishes, you always ask for more wishes. Kids can understand that basic piece of logic (and their tolerance for genie stories thereafter declines), but we tend to forget when we "grow up."

On this website, I'm trying something new. I'm sharing my list(s), and keeping it around where I can refer to it whenever I want, with links and pictures to mark the journey as it continues.

Below is the list as of December, 2009, written down while eating breakfast at the Luxor buffet in Las Vegas with Eric, Esther and Joanna:

List '09- Vegas

Great Wall o' China
Machu Picchu
Get married, happily; Have one (or two)(revised after discussion with Joanna) happy & healthy kid(s)
Live overseas again
Become a professor of 日本語 Ph.D.
Write something worth reading
Grande Toure (Europe) with Joanna
Asia with Joanna (Thailand or Bali or the Philippines)
Buy, renovate, and manage a historic property
The Grand Canyon River Trip
Visit the Mariposa Preserve and Paricutin in Mejico
Make a (home) movie with music
Visit more UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Have an annual party; invite everyone
Temagami reunion - down the San Juan in Utah
Pilgrimages to: Hamburg, Bremen, Nikolaev, Blackfoot, Lubeck
Stay Active! Keep Movin'!
Sail
Visit Egypt
Renew Bucket List